Bravo ACT UP/Paris! Peut-être je reviens a France bientôt!!
Meanwhile, another approach I am proposing. City and state councils/legislatures can adopt such language if in the US, the feds refuse to fight against this rape of health programs and the murder of the millions of us living with Hep C.
George M. Carter
On Feb 24, 2014, at 12:42 PM, Céline Grillon wrote:
>http://www.actupparis.org/spip.php?article5338
DRAFT City Council Resolution
For benefit of persons living with Hepatitis C
WHEREAS Hepatitis C represents an urgent and increasing public health emergency in New York City with an estimated One Hundred, Forty Six Thousand (146,000) infected individuals; AND
WHEREAS many of the affected individuals are on public assistance or are receiving Medicaid; AND
WHEREAS current treatment advances have produced more rapid, more effective and less toxic cures for the infection; AND
WHEREAS the manufacturing cost of these and/or other drugs is undisputedly low [e.g., for a typical twelve (12)week course, approximately between Ten Dollars ($10) to Thirty Dollars ($30) for Daclatasvir; between Sixty Eight Dollars ($68) to One Hundred and Thirty Six Dollars ($136) for Sofosbuvir; between One Hundred Dollars ($100) to Two Hundred and Ten Dollars ($210) for Faldaprevir; and between One Hundred and Thirty Dollars ($130) to Two Hundred and Seventy Dollars ($270) for Simeprevir]; AND
WHEREAS a cure is available, but the price is prohibitively expensive at (either) Eighty Four Thousand Dollars ($84,000) for a twelve (12) week course of Gilead's Sofosbuvir; (or) Sixty Six Thousand Dollars ($66,000) for a twelve (12) week course of Janssen's Simeprevir; AND
WHEREAS to treat all of the estimated One Hundred, Forty Six Thousand (146,000) infected patients for such Twelve (12) week period at One Hundred and Fifty Thousand Dollars ($150,000) would cost approximately $21.9 BILLION dollars, as opposed to as little as Four Hundred Dollars ($400) for such twelve (12) week period at a cost of $58.4 Million dollars; AND
WHEREAS the aforementioned companies have without exception unreasonably withheld and/or delayed, and/or otherwise encumbered any entreaties to drastically reduce the pricing to a reasonable amount; AND
WHEREAS the legitimacy of the patent for Sofosbuvir is disputed; AND
WHEREAS there is an undeniable and pressing necessity for people living with hepatitis C to have unimpeded access to such treatments; AND
WHEREAS physicians have the right to provide off-label prescriptions and a duty to treat patients with the most effective therapies; AND
WHEREAS several pharmacy chains, including Express Scripts have declared their lack of willingness to include these drugs in their formularies;
BE IT RESOLVED the City Council of New York City demands a Ninety Nine percent (99%) or greater reduction in the price of these and medications which still provides a substantial profit;
AND BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that failing to provide these medications at such prices, the City will investigate and undertake the importation of alternative, generic sources of Sofosbuvir and other such medicines as they become available, in order to enable the treatment of New York City's Hepatitis C-infected population.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, the City Counsel has duly executed this Resolution on the date first written above.
References:
http://hepatitiscnewdrugresearch.com/sofosbuvirgs7977simeprevirtmc435.htmlhttp://freepdfhosting.com/d4a7e2bba6.pdfhttp://www.opensocietyfoundations.org/press-releases/treatment-advocates-challenge-patent-new-hepatitis-c-drug-0http://vaccinenewsdaily.com/medical_countermeasures/327724-nyc-launches-initiative-to-control-hepatitis-c-prevalence-in-the-city/https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23657093